Frank Defordhttp://wmot.org
enNews From The Charity Stripehttp://wmot.org/post/news-charity-stripe
It's the venerable custom in tennis and golf for the crowd to be still and quiet when players hit their shots.<p>Now, since even ordinary baseball batters have some success hitting against 98 mph fastballs with 40,000 fans standing and screaming, do you really believe that great athletes like Novak Djokovic or Rory McIlroy couldn't serve or putt with a few thousand fans hollering? If they'd grown up playing tennis or golf that way, that is. When disorder is a sustaining part of the game, players, in effect, put it out of their minds.Wed, 18 Mar 2015 07:09:00 +0000Frank Deford50138 at http://wmot.orgNews From The Charity StripeDeford: NCAA Fans Continue To Drink Deeply Of The (Sports) Spiritshttp://wmot.org/post/deford-ncaa-fans-continue-drink-deeply-sports-spirits
OK, after an eight-year investigation, the NCAA hit Syracuse University and its basketball coach, Jim Boeheim, with all sorts of <a href="http://www.npr.org/2015/03/07/391435886/ncaa-sanctions-syracuse-coach-the-week-in-sports">penalties</a> for academic and recruiting violations.Wed, 11 Mar 2015 07:35:00 +0000Frank Deford49895 at http://wmot.orgDeford: NCAA Fans Continue To Drink Deeply Of The (Sports) SpiritsDeford: It's Hard To Write A Christmas Story About Sporthttp://wmot.org/post/deford-its-hard-write-christmas-story-about-sport
Several years ago, I wrote a sports Christmas story. It was about a greedy basketball superstar who, imbued with Yuletide cheer, helps save his small-market franchise.<p>A big-time producer wanted to make a TV movie out of it. So off I went to Hollywood to turn my story into a script and thereby, in keeping with the Christmas spirit, make a killing.<p>Let me tell you: It's hard to write a Christmas story about sport.<p>After all, the idea of sports is to beat the other fellow, while the idea of Christmas is to be giving.Wed, 24 Dec 2014 08:24:00 +0000Frank Deford47029 at http://wmot.orgDeford: It's Hard To Write A Christmas Story About SportBe Thankful This Year For The San Antonio Spurshttp://wmot.org/post/be-thankful-year-san-antonio-spurs
Has there ever been a team in any sport in the United States that everybody loves as much as the San Antonio Spurs? Sure, there have been popular teams — the Yankees, the Dodgers, the Cowboys when they were America's team and not Jerry Jones' team, Notre Dame — but all those teams engendered almost as much hate as love.<p>But <em>everybody </em>loves the Spurs. You love the Spurs. I love the Spurs. Have you ever heard anyone criticize the Spurs? No! The good feeling about our Spurs — and, yes, they are <em>our </em>Spurs — is because they are certified to do everything right.Wed, 26 Nov 2014 09:15:00 +0000Frank Deford46017 at http://wmot.orgBe Thankful This Year For The San Antonio SpursOutside Of The Games, Are Sports Corrupt?http://wmot.org/post/outside-games-are-sports-corrupt
We so regularly excuse the chicanery of sport. We fans suspect that our team is just as guilty as whatever ooze bubbles to the surface elsewhere, so let it go lest we be the next one caught. For us privileged to actually be down in the rabbit hole, the sins have been so present for so long, they simply become accepted as a benign part of the landscape. Hey, it's all just fun and games, so go along, be a — well, be a good sport.<p>Only, every now and then ...<p>Every now and then the evils are just so gross that you have to blink open the blind eye. Sorry.Wed, 19 Nov 2014 08:49:00 +0000Frank Deford45765 at http://wmot.orgOutside Of The Games, Are Sports Corrupt?